Bariatric surgery

Surgical treatment for weight reduction can be carried out if a person’s BMI is over 35 and if weight reduction through dieting has been tried for a cumulative period of 2 years. If a person’s BMI is more than 50, surgery can be considered if dieting has been tried for one year without significant or lasting weight loss.

Bariatric surgery is very complex and one of the most specialized abdominal surgeries.

The GDK (www.gdk-cds.ch, can be found under highly specialized digestive surgery: complex bariatric surgeries) has granted the mandate to execute complex bariatric interventions only to a few hospitals in Switzerland.

The quality of surgical obesity treatment depends on the following factors:

Does the hospital have a specialized interdisciplinary team that examines and clarifies individual cases before surgery, and supervises after the operation?

Does the hospital run a 24-hour emergency operation service on 365 days of the year, and is staffed with chief physicians?

Does the hospital have a recognized ICU with ventilator places?

4 Will an experienced surgical team operate you?

The previous experience and number of operations performed by the surgeon is an important factor contributing to a low complication rate.

An experienced bariatric surgeon has performed at least 500 surgeries himself, and he knows several surgical techniques impeccably. In addition he should carry out at least 50 bariatric procedures per year.